Dylan Power
Monday, June 24th 2024
VSE Members News
After 30 years of providing a free nationwide support service to international visitors to Ireland, Irish Tourist Assistance Service has rebranded to Tourist SOS.
The new name, Tourist SOS, is intended to be easier to understand and remember for visitors as well as the Gardaí (Irish Police) and those in the tourism and hospitality industries who are often the first point of contact for tourists in distress.
The service will continue to help international visitors when issues arise, such as a crime, an accident or medical emergency. Tourist SOS has an extensive network of contacts in embassies, airlines, hospitality and the Gardaí, so can help a visitor resolve their problems and put the incident behind them as quickly as possible, and get back to enjoying their time in Ireland.
While thankfully relatively few visitors to Ireland experience such problems, and of the small numbers who do, 9 in 10 will continue their holiday after receiving support from Tourist SOS – a testament to the effectiveness of the service provided. Tourist SOS is unique to Ireland with no other European country offering this type of dedicated nationwide support to visitors.
www.touristsos.ie provides information and advice to tourists in multiple languages and has a separate section for Gardai, Embassy personnel and frontline staff in the tourism industry on best practice when dealing with visitors who have experienced a crime or other distressing incident.
